


Be The Very Best

by buoyantsaturn



Series: solangelo week 2k19 [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Relationship, Self-Destruction, all these new tags apply ONLY to chapter 3, like. not quite self hurt but definitely self neglect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2020-05-16 00:10:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19306672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: “You know,” Will started, picking rowlett up off his shoulder and holding him in his arms, “maybe if you were a little bit nicer to him, he’d be nicer to you. Don’t you know that pokemon are man’s best friend?”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello and happy solangelo week 2k19!!!  
> OF COURSE i wrote about pokemon for the sun/moon prompt who do you think i am  
> anyway this au will be back sometime later this week!! (but when is a secret so you'll have to keep an eye out)  
> i'll see yall for the rest of solangelo week!! enjoy!!

Will had ventured back to Melemele Island to train his new happiny, and was walking through Route 1 when he heard a rustling in the trees overhead. He set his happiny on the ground nearby and prepared to pull out a different pokemon - he wanted to be prepared in case this wild pokemon was too strong for Happiny to handle - though before he could set his hand on a pokeball, Will heard the snapping of branches and a shout that sounded distinctly human before somebody fell from the tree and landed right in Will’s arms.

Will looked back and forth between the boy in his arms and the tree above him, as if wondering whether pretty boys usually fell from the sky around here. “Are you okay?” he finally asked.

“I’m fine,” he replied, wriggling in Will’s grasp until Will finally set him on his feet. “Sorry for, uh, landing on you.”

Will smiled. “It’s alright. I’m glad I was here to catch you. Mind if I ask why you were in that tree?”

The boy huffed, crossing his arms - which was an adorable look on him, Will might add - and said, “My rowlett’s being a jerk. He wouldn’t get out of that tree, so I climbed up after him, but he just kept going higher.”

Will stared up into the tree once more. “Oh. Mind if I try?”

The boy shrugged. “Go for it.”

“Cool. Keep an eye on my happiny for me, would you?” he asked, then jumped for a tree branch. It didn’t take long before he had climbed high enough that the branches below him concealed the ground, though he still had yet to see a rowlett. He kept climbing higher, finally breaching the canopy where a rowlett immediately clicked his tongue at him and pecked at one of his hands. “Ow! Hey, now, that wasn’t necessary.” He held his hand out to rowlett and said, “My name is Will. Your trainer down there is worried about you. Why don’t you come down with me?” Rowlett shook his head, and Will frowned.

Will reached for the small bag of treats on his belt, taking one out and holding it out to rowlett. “I’ve got another treat for you if you come down from this tree with me.”

Rowlett narrowed his eyes at Will as if skeptical of the treat in Will’s hand before he darted forward to bite the treat out of Will’s palm. “Does that mean you’ll come down with me?” Rowlett flew over to Will, landing on his shoulder, and even allowed Will to scratch under his chin. “Aw, you’re actually a sweetheart, aren’t you?”

Will climbed back down with rowlett on his shoulder. When he landed back on the ground, he saw rowlett’s trainer sitting back against the base of another tree while happiny found and picked every flower nearby, dropping them at the trainer’s feet.

“We’re back!” Will announced, and the trainer jumped to his feet. “I don’t know why you think your rowlett’s mean; I bet he was just playing with you,” Will said as he scratched under rowlett’s chin again.

The trainer rolled his eyes. “No, he was being a _jerk.”_ He reached out for rowlett who hissed and tried to peck at his fingers.

“You know,” Will started, picking rowlett up off his shoulder and holding him in his arms, “maybe if you were a little bit nicer to him, he’d be nicer to you. Don’t you know that pokemon are man’s best friend?”

“I’m not looking for _friends,_ I’m trying to build the strongest team possible to fight the Elite Four.”

Will sighed. He had hope that this trainer would be a little more like him - someone who loved pokemon as they were, not just as superpowered weapons - but apparently he was wrong. “Your pokemon won’t be able to get stronger unless you bond with them. Some won’t even evolve until they feel like they have a real connection to you.”

“Oh. No, I didn’t know that.” The boy stepped up to Will, though he was looking at rowlett. “I’m sorry, rowlett. I’ll be nicer from now on, as long as you promise to do the same. Sound good?”

Rowlett cooed at him and flew out of Will’s arms, landing on his trainer’s shoulder.

Will stuffed his hands into his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. “I’m surprised you don’t know this stuff already. You’re not just starting out on your journey, are you?”

“No, I am,” he replied. “Why?”

“I’ve never known someone that started out so late. Everyone I know has been ten or so when they got their first pokemon, but you’re definitely older than that.”

“I had some trouble getting started in my own region, so I came here instead.”

Will grinned. “Well, I’ve been exploring all over this region for the last eight years or so, so if you’re interested, I could show you around a little bit and help you get on track to get to the Elite Four.”

“That would be...pretty great, actually,” he replied, and held out his hand to Will. “I’m Nico.”

 

Will had helped Nico to bond with his rowlett over the last few days, and finally agreed that Nico was ready to catch some new pokemon. Right away, Nico pointed toward a creepy, shadowy side path and said, “Is that a cemetery?” before he grabbed Will’s wrist and dragged him in that direction.

Will smiled, finding Nico’s excitement to be absolutely adorable. At least it _was,_ until Nico spent two full hours ghost hunting without finding or catching a single pokemon.

Will had sat down against the base of a tree, rotating out each of his pokemon since he clearly had time to groom them all. After he’d watched Nico take his fifth lap around the cemetery, Will called over to him, “Nico, the sun’s still up. There probably won’t be any ghosts out for a while now.”

“Then I guess we’ll have to stay here for a while,” Nico replied. “I _need_ ghosts.”

Will sighed and pushed himself up onto his feet. “Alright, I’ll help you look, then.”

For another half an hour, Will wandered around with Nico in search of any ghost type pokemon they could find, but even then, it wasn’t either of them that found a ghost first.

Will noticed that his happiny had started chirping excitedly, and when he found her, she was on the edge of the woods, playing peekaboo with a haunter. Will grinned at the sight, keeping an eye on them to make sure that the wild haunter never attacked as he stepped backwards toward Nico, waving him over.

“Looks like Happy beat us to it,” Will said softly so as to not startle the two pokemon. He smiled down at Nico, just to see him staring right back at him, eyes sparkling.

 

* * *

 

So much of Alola consisted of beaches, yet Nico seemed to refuse to set foot on a beach no matter how many times Will tried to convince him to go for a swim. Eventually, on a day when the temperature was soaring above the average, Will didn’t try arguing with Nico, and instead marched himself down to the beach. He released all of his pokemon, most landing on the shore, though alomomola of course found her way to the water. Will dropped his belongings on the beach, shedding his shirt and shoes before running and diving straight into the water.

When he resurfaced, he saw Nico on the beach, arms crossed and glaring out at the ocean like it had done something to personally piss him off. Or maybe he was just squinting against the bright sun. “Nico, come on!” Will shouted, though even from so far away Will could see Nico shaking his head.

Will’s pokemon had slowly started making their way into the water with him, and Will watched to make sure that the smallest of the bunch were able to stay afloat before his eyes strayed back to Nico. He’d dropped his backpack onto the sand and sat down on top of it. Sitting with his chin in his hand and looking like he’d rather be anywhere else.

“At least let your pokemon come out to play,” Will called out to him, surprised when Nico actually acquiesced. Once rowlett and haunter had joined the party in the shallow water and Nico had returned to his gloomy position, alomomola spit a stream of water directly into Nico’s face.

Will started laughing so hard that he tipped back into the water. He swam over to alomomola to scold her, but he was certain that it couldn’t have been effective when he could barely breathe through his laughter.

He glanced back at the shore to apologize to Nico on alomomola’s behalf, but lost his breath for an entirely different reason. Nico had taken off his now-soaked shirt, and was in the process of shimmying out of his equally-drenched pants when Will laid eyes on him. Thankfully, before Nico could notice, alomomola spit water into Will’s face as well.

As Will tried furiously to wipe the water from his eyes - and away from his mouth because _gross_ \- he heard a shout of, “Hey! Put me down!”

Will’s bewear had apparently ventured back out of the water and picked Nico up from behind. Seeing as bewear had over a foot on Nico in height, he didn’t seem to have any problems in carrying him into the ocean and dropping him into the water. Once he’d released Nico, bewear returned to shallower water where he started floating on his back and allowing Will’s komala, eevee and ribombee to use him as a raft.

At this point, Will was laughing so hard that he couldn’t stay on his feet, and clung to alomomola to keep him afloat.

Nico splashed him - though it didn’t hinder Will’s laughter at all - and waded back to the beach where he dropped onto the sand in a huff. Suddenly, the sand started to move out from under him, and Nico scrambled back to his feet with a cry of, “What the heck?”

Will swam toward the shore and watched as the sand where Nico had been sitting formed into a mound, and a mouth and a pair of eyes appeared in the sand. “Oh! It’s a sandygast!”

Nico scrunched up his nose at the pokemon. “Do they all look like that?”

“Don’t be rude, Nico,” Will told him. “You know it’s a ghost type, right? Didn’t you say something about wanting to catch as many ghost type pokemon as possible? You won’t be able to do that if you keep being mean to them.”

Nico let out a deep sigh, and called over rowlett to battle as he fished a new pokeball out of his backpack.

 

* * *

 

Nico dragged Will into the cemetery on Akala Island, and while Will complained about likely spending another full day hunting for ghost pokemon, he was still smiling as Nico gripped his hand and pulled him into the shadowy area.

Nico brought out rowlett and haunter to help him search the area while Will sat down against the base of a tree. He, too, brought out some of his pokemon - happiny was almost always out of her pokeball, though Will brought out eevee and ribombee as well - and he took off his backpack so that he could reorganize its contents. Eevee and ribombee went off on their own, chasing each other around the cemetery as Will removed things from his backpack and set them aside, allowing happiny to organize them into piles that probably made sense to her, but were unclear to Will.

Without thinking, Will pulled an oval stone from his bag and set it aside for happiny to pick up, though right as she reached for it, Will pulled it out of her reach. “Woah, careful!” he exclaimed, startling his pokemon. “Sorry, Happy, but if you hold this, then you’ll evolve. Do you want that?” Happiny made a cheerful noise, bobbing up and down as if nodding. Will smiled down at her, though he looked around in search of Nico. When he found him, he called out, “Hey, Nico! Come over here for a second. Eve and BeeBee, you too!”

Nico knelt beside Will as eevee climbed into his lap and ribombee sat on his shoulder - even rowlett and haunter joined the group. Will handed the oval stone to happiny, and immediately she began to glow, growing rapidly for a moment as she evolved into a chansey.

“Oh, wow,” Nico said softly, his eyes wide and sparkling, jaw dropped as he stared at Happy, then turned to gaze at Will.

Will felt like he was getting lost in the sparkles in Nico’s eyes, and didn’t even realize that they were practically nose to nose with most of their pokemon watching. Then, there was motion out of the corner of Will’s eye, and the looked to see a drifblim _and_ a phantump watching them from the edge of the woods.

“Nico, look,” he whispered, grinning. “Ghosts!”

 

* * *

 

After battling a trainer that they’d met along their journey, Nico’s rowlett had evolved into a dartrix, and had apparently decided that he was too cool to listen to his trainer anymore. It frustrated Nico to no yet, though Will seemed to find it hilarious.

“C’mon, Will, there has to be _something_ you can do to make dartrix listen to me again!”

Will had practically collapsed in half because of how hard he was laughing. “He’s a rebellious emo teen, just like you!”

Nico crossed his arms with a huff. “I’m _not_ a rebellious emo teen, shut up!”

Will glanced up, his laughter starting to fade, and watched as Nico flipped his bangs out of his face. A second later and a few feet behind him, dartrix did the same.

Will _lost it._

 

* * *

 

“I heard that there’s an old abandoned grocery store on this island that ghost type pokemon like to go to,” Nico said as they ventured onto Ula’ula Island.

Will stopped in his tracks. “Oh, no. No, no, no, I am _not_ going in there again.”

Nico frowned. “Why not? Did something happen while you were there?”

“No! It’s just so _creepy!_ And it’s full of mimikyu who always pick on me and try to scare me.”

Nico rolled his eyes. “I’ll protect you from the scary little pokemon, Will, let’s _go.”_

Luckily for Nico - though not so much for Will - the beach that they’d surfed up to was just a short distance away from from the abandoned Thrifty Megamart. Will insisted that he would wait outside, though Nico grabbed his hand and dragged him inside. Will clung to that hand like his life depended on it.

“Did you hear that?” Will asked for the fifth time, his head darting around as if to locate the source of the sound.

“No, Will, you’re just hearing things,” Nico told him. “You’re just psyching yourself out. Just relax - unless you see a mimikyu, then you can be excited and tell me so I can catch it.”

“Trust me, you’ll know if I see a mimikyu because I’ll be screaming.”

They continued marching up and down the aisles of the store, Will growing more and more anxious with every step, before Nico stopped suddenly before turning a corner.

“I see one,” he whispered, and Will squeezed his hand. “You gotta let go, Will, I need both hands to catch it.”

Will released his hand, though a second later, he wound both arms around Nico’s waist and buried his face in Nico’s shoulder. Nico’s heart stopped. He froze for so long that the mimikyu almost managed to escape before Nico could even bring out dartrix to start the battle.

Once he finally managed to breathe again, he started the battle. It wasn’t long before he had a newly filled pokeball with a mimikyu inside, and this time it was Will’s turn to drag Nico away. It wasn’t until they were outside and a significant distance from the store that Will dropped Nico’s hand and threw his arms around him.

 _“Never_ take me in there again,” Will told him.

Nico chuckled softly and pulled himself back far enough that he could look at Will. “Wow, you really weren’t kidding about how much you hate that place. How bad would it freak you out if I brought mimikyu out right now?” He held up the pokeball teasingly.

Will tightened his hold on Nico and dropped his forehead against Nico’s in an attempt to make his glare more intimidating, though it didn’t go as planned. Rather than backing off, Nico pushed closer as Will did the same, and their lips met in a soft kiss.

The pokeball slipped from Nico’s hand as he practically went limp in Will’s arms, and mimikyu popped out of the ball. She gazed up at them curiously before shifting toward Will’s feet, brushing against his leg.

Will glanced down, and a second later he screamed, shoving Nico away and knocking himself off his feet. He crawled away from mimikyu who continued to stare at him. He risked flicking his eyes away from mimikyu for half a second to see Nico across from him, now also on the ground, laughing so hard that tears had started streaming down his face.

 

* * *

 

They camped out in Wela Volcano Park for the night. Like usual, Will was the first to wake up in the morning, though this time it wasn’t because the sun had started shining into his eyes. He could hear noises coming from outside their tent, and so he sneaked out to investigate. Less than a hundred yards from their campsite, Will found a group of marowaks practicing their dancing and flaming-baton spinning.

Just as quietly as he left, Will returned to their tent, crawling inside to see that Nico was nearly buried underneath all of his own - as well as a few of Will’s - pokemon, who must’ve seeked out a heat source in their sleep after Will left.

“Nico,” Will whispered, shaking his shoulder gently. “Neeks, wake up, you’ve gotta come see this.”

Like always, it took a few moments for Nico to actually stir, fighting through the pile of pokemon on top of him so that he could sit up and lean against Will’s chest. “What time is it?”

“Early. Like, really early, but I promise this’ll be worth it.”

Nico groaned, but pushed away his sleeping bag anyway and tried to stand when he noticed that Will’s komala had attached himself to Nico’s leg and didn’t seem keen on letting him go. Will had to tug komala away and let him cling to Will’s arm so that he and Nico could finally leave.

“Oh!” Will said, once they’d left the tent. “You might want to bring Sandy, too, just in case.”

Nico was either glaring or squinting, but either way he didn’t seem very happy about having to crawl back into the tent for sandygast. After a short moment, the four of them were finally on their way. Will led Nico on the same path he’d taken a few minutes earlier, and instructed Nico to crouch behind a rock so that they wouldn’t be noticed.

Will watched Nico’s expression as the trainer observed the marowaks, and saw his eyes widening in awe at the sight. “I’ve never seen a marowak that looks like that before…”

Will bumped him with his shoulder. “You know, Alolan marowaks are ghost types.”

Nico turned toward Will, his wide eyes sparkling. “I _need_ one.”

Will held out a new pokeball, and Nico snatched it out of his hand before he started to climb over the rock they were hidden behind.

“Wait, hold on a second!” Will said, grabbing Nico’s arm to pull him back down. He drew Nico in for a kiss before he said, “A kiss for luck.”

Nico grinned, darting forward for another kiss, then launched himself toward the group of marowaks.

Will crossed his arms on top of the rock he was still hidden behind and set his chin on top of his arms, watching with a smile as his boyfriend caught a marowak.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bet yall didn't see this coming, huh?? bet yall weren't expecting me to continue this au for the enemies/lovers day,, were you???  
> even if you were, I hope you enjoy this continuation!!

Nico was ready to face the Elite Four. He never would have gotten there if it weren’t for Will - and his good luck kisses, of course - but he’d finally won all of the island challenges and collected enough Z-crystals to be permitted to challenge the Elite Four.

Nico had his fingers laced with Will’s as they approached the gate separating them from the steep slopes of Mount Lanakila. “Don’t be nervous,” Will whispered to him as they approached the gatekeeper. “You have everything you need to enter the Pokemon League.”

“I know,” Nico breathed, then froze mid-step. “Wait. Can you still come with me if you haven’t completed the island challenges?”

Will furrowed his brow. “What? Of course I’ve finished the island challenges, how else do you think I would know all the secrets and shortcuts to get you here?” He pressed a kiss to the side of Will’s head. “Besides, I have to give you your good luck kiss before you challenge the island Kahunas, don’t I?”

“Yes, you do,” Nico insisted, and squeezed Will’s hand before tugging him forward once more. Together, they showed their Z-crystals to the gatekeeper, and rode the elevator up...about ten feet. “Oh,  _ come on,” _ Nico groaned, staring into the entrance of a cave.

Will grinned. “Welcome to Victory Road!”

 

Nico had never seen Will and his team in action. That changed almost immediately when a couple of trainers on Victory Road challenged them to a team battle. Who would’ve guessed that Will’s ribombee would be powerful enough to almost single-handedly take down four pokemon?

They took a break for lunch - they’d barely made any progress through Victory Road and had successfully spent  _ hours _ battling. While Nico was preparing food for the two of them, Will was doing the same for their pokemon. 

“I never knew that your pokemon were so strong,” Nico mentioned offhandedly.

Will scratched behind eevee’s ear. “That’s what happens when you’re a team for so many years.”

Nico paused, allowing his anxiety a moment to build up inside of him. “Are you going to challenge the Elite Four, too?” Will’s team was just  _ so powerful, _ what if he beat all of the island Kahunas and Nico didn’t?

“Oh, no way,” Will said calmly. “That’s your dream, I wouldn’t take that from you. And I mean--” he nudged Nico with his elbow, “--what if I’m better than you?” He laughed as if he had made a joke, though Nico didn’t find it very funny.

After lunch, they repacked their things and found themselves challenged to another battle as soon as they stepped out of the cave. At least in this battle, Nico’s pokemon were able to hold their own alongside Will’s team, which was starting to make Nico feel a little bit better. However, at the end of the battle, Will’s chansey began to glow and grow in size, until a blissey stood where chansey once was, and Nico felt like he and his team were just as weak as before.

 

* * *

 

It took three days to make it through Victory Road. Once they’d finally reached the Pokemon League at the top of the mountain, they were practically begging Nurse Joy for a cot to sleep on in the back room of the Pokemon Center. 

The room was just big enough to have two cots against opposite walls from each other, with space on the floor for each of their pokemon to curl up at sleep - aside from poor alomomola who had to stay in her pokeball for the night. As everyone settled in for the night and the pokemon started to fall asleep, Nico found himself restless and unable to get comfortable. After a few moments, he lifted himself out of bed and carefully tiptoed around the many pokemon on the floor before he pulled back the blanket on Will’s cot and crawled into bed next to him.

“What’re you doing?” Will asked drowsily, draping an arm around Nico’s waist as he settled down.

“I’m too nervous,” Nico whispered, hiding his face in Will’s chest, “and too excited. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sleep.”

“Oh, so you’re just gonna keep me up with you all night?” Will joked, already sounding like he was falling back asleep. He pressed a kiss to the top of Nico’s head, then settled back down with a sigh. “Tell me what you’re thinking. Getting it out will make you feel better.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Nico told him. “You’re about to fall asleep anyway.”

Will hummed. “Okay. But tell me in the morning, okay?”

 

In the morning, they had breakfast in their room with their pokemon before venturing out of the Pokemon Center -  _ after _ Will had bought an armload of healing supplies from the PokeMart for Nico, of course. Nico had returned all of his pokemon to their pokeballs, though all of Will’s pokemon were still roaming free.

As they approached the entrance to the Elite Four’s chambers, Will wouldn’t stop fussing over Nico. “Do you have enough potions? Full restores? Stat condition healers? All of your pokemon are happy and healthy? We can run back to the Pokemon Center if you need to.”

“I’m fine Will,” Nico insisted, spinning toward him and grabbing his face in his hands. “Look at me. I’m fine. I’ve got everything I need...except for  _ one thing, _ of course.”

“What is it?” Will asked frantically. “Do I need to go buy something else for you? I’ll be quick, I promise--”

Nico pulled him down for a kiss, and Will immediately relaxed, winding his arms around Nico’s waist. 

“Oh. Right,” Will whispered. He pecked Nico’s lips. “You’re gonna be great.” Another kiss. “I’ll see you on the other side.” He kissed him one last time. “There. Four good luck kisses, one for each battle against the Elite Four.”

Nico took a deep breath. “Alright. I’ll see you after.”

Will watched as his boyfriend climbed the steps and the doors swung open to let him inside. Once the doors closed behind him, Will dropped to sit on the steps. Immediately, eevee hopped into his lap.

“He’s going to be great, right?” Will asked her as he started to scratch behind her ears. “Of course he is. He’s going to beat them all, and he’s going to make it all the way to the champion, but then… He’ll find out. I want him to be the champion,  _ of course _ I do, because he deserves it more than anyone else on this island, but I don’t think I could live with myself if he didn’t win.”

He set his forehead against eevee’s and let his eyes slip shut. A moment later, a bright light shone through his eyelids, and when he reopened his eyes, there was no longer an eevee on his lap but a sylveon. He sighed, torn between many emotions ranging from happy to worried. “You’re not making this any easier on me, Eve.”

The sound of footsteps approaching had Will looking up to see a familiar middle-aged man walking toward him - though for the life of him, Will couldn’t remember the man’s name. 

“Will! Good to see you again,” he said. “It’s been quite a while since your last visit. You must’ve heard that we have a new challenger. Would you please come with me so that we can prepare in the event that this newcomer succeeds to the champion’s chamber?”

“His name is Nico,” Will said softly, though he didn’t yet stand. 

“So you’ve already met! That always makes for a fun surprise later on, don’t you think?” the man joked, though Will didn’t find it very funny. “It appears that Nico is already making exceptional progress in defeating the first kahuna, so I think it would be best if we our way back.”

For a moment, he hesitated, then finally nodded and slowly made his way to his feet. “Yeah, alright.”

He turned and started walking up the steps, his pokemon following behind. The man clapped him on the shoulder and said, “It’s good to have you back, Champion.”

 

Nico hadn’t expected that he would defeat the Elite Four on his first try. He certainly wouldn’t have made it so far if it weren’t for Will - his training, his healing items, and especially his good luck kisses. Now all he had to do was defeat the champion, and he could run back to Will’s arms. He couldn’t  _ wait _ to tell Will how the other battles had gone.

He took the time to heal his pokemon before he made his way up to the champion’s chamber, and gave them each a short pep talk - Will really was rubbing off on him, wasn’t he? - before he stepped into the elevator.

When Nico stepped into the champion’s chamber, the first thing he saw was Will standing at the opposite end of the room. “Will!” Nico shouted, and run toward him at top speed. He threw his arms around his boyfriend, already babbling about the battles he’d just fought.

“I didn’t expect to see you yet! Did you sneak in? Are you here to cheer me on?” Nico asked, still clinging to Will in his excitement. 

Will gave him a smile, though it made him look nervous and almost a little sad. “How about a good luck kiss before the battle?” Will framed Nico’s face in his hands, pressing their lips together, giving him such a passionate kiss that Nico felt like he could  _ feel _ all of Will’s emotions - though he still couldn’t distinguish exactly what Will was feeling.

“So…” Nico started, gazing around Will as if the champion might’ve been hiding behind him. “Where’s the champion? I thought they would be here by now.”

Will ducked his head and scratched at the back of his neck. “Um. You’re looking at him.”

Nico stepped back, out of Will’s reach. “What?”

“I’m the champion.”

Nico felt like he’d been stabbed through the heart. “Why didn’t you  _ tell me?” _

“I… I don’t know, I didn’t--”

“Didn’t what? You didn’t think I would ever make it this far to find out?”

“No!” Will raised his hands placatingly. “No, of course not! I knew right away that you were going to be the greatest trainer I’ve ever met, but I never knew when to tell you! I didn’t want to intimidate you early on, and then I didn’t want you to get mad at me for not telling you...like right now. Please don’t be mad at me, Nico.”

Nico stepped away, pacing as he tried to think. Finally, he walked back to Will and held out a hand for him to shake. “May the best Champion win.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!! this is my last day participating in solangeloweek2k19 (as far as i know), but there's still one day left if you want to participate! check out solangeloweek.tumblr.com to see what's up!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the long awaited sequel!! this chapter here is a gift to my friend eli who i love very much!! mercy crisis my dude!!  
> and the rest of yall. enjoy ig idk

“Dartrix, solar beam!”

“Happy, use hyper beam!”

Both pokemon released powerful beams of light at their opponents, colliding in the center of the battlefield with a blinding flash and booming explosion. Will shielded his eyes from the light and held his breath to keep from breathing in the sudden dust rising in the air. As the dust cloud settled over the battlefield, Will looked out at his pokemon to continue the battle, but gasped at the sight of both his blissey and Nico’s dartrix collapsing from overexertion. 

“Both pokemon are unable to battle!” the referee called. “Both trainers are out of usable pokemon, which means...this battle ends in...a tie? No one has ever tied with the champion before! There’s no protocol for this!”

Will ignored the ref as he tried to get his attention - all he could focus on was Nico across the battlefield, returning dartrix to his pokeball with the stiff movements of a broken heart. Will felt his chest constricting at the sight.  _ He  _ had made Nico look like that, so devastated despite neither winning or losing.

Nico turned to leave, and Will jumped into motion. “Nico, wait!” he called out, running across the field to stop him. “You don’t have to leave! You didn’t lose! We can battle again, please!”

Nico stopped in place but didn’t turn to face Will. “That was a pretty good trick you pulled, surprising me like that, but it won’t get me next time. Consider this one a win for yourself. I’ll be back.”

“Nico, please! I don’t want you to leave! We can have a rematch, as soon as both of our pokemon have had a chance to rest. Just come with me, we can all rest here, and you and I can talk, okay?”

Nico’s shoulders tensed. “I need to train. On my own.”

“Just...hang on, for one more second,” Will pleaded, and fished around in the medicine pouch on his belt for a pen and a piece of paper, then scribbled out an address. He pressed the paper into Nico’s hand. “When you’re ready, you can find me there.”

Nico pulled his hand out of Will’s and started walking away from him. 

“Please come back to me,” Will whispered, his eyes welling up with tears. 

He watched as Nico left the chamber, then turned away to wipe at his eyes. He left through the back entrance, which led to the champion’s private room in the Pokemon Center. Being champion didn’t mean his pokemon were any more a priority than anybody else’s, but at least the separate room gave him the privacy to wallow in his sadness - he had the feeling that, somewhere else in the Pokemon Center, Nico was doing the same thing.

One by one, Will’s pokemon returned to him, curling up against his sides or on his lap in an attempt to comfort him. He stroked one hand down sylveon’s back and sighed. “I really messed everything up, huh?”

 

After allowing his pokemon to rest in the Pokemon Center overnight - though unable to get any rest himself - Nico battled his way back to the base of Mount Lanakila, training his pokemon and evolving his dartrix into a decidueye. He stopped for another rest at the Pokemon Center outside of Tapu Village, then made his way back up through Victory Road to continue training. Once he’d evolved each of his pokemon to their strongest forms, Nico took his pokemon to a rocky cliffside away from the few other trainers at the top of the mountain. 

He brought each of his pokemon out of their pokeballs and stood in front of them. “It’s time for our rematch against Will. You’re all stronger now, and he won’t be able to trick us again like he did last time. We’re going to  _ destroy _ him,  _ and  _ all of his pokemon, and then I’ll finally be the champion!”

Nico’s pokemon glanced at each other uneasily.

“I know his pokemon are your friends, but that doesn’t mean you can go easy on them,” Nico continued. “They won’t go easy on you, so you have to give it your all. I need you to use all of your power, and prove to me you can be as strong as I need you to be, so show me what you can do. Hit me!”

Decidueye squawked in protest, but Nico glared right back. 

“Come on! Attack me, right now! Gengar, use shadow ball! Marowak, will-o-wisp!”

Gengar and marowak started charging up their attacks to full power, but a harsh look from decidueye had them hesitating, and their attacks barely grazed Nico.   
“No! I know you can do better than that!” Nico shouted. He tapped the Z-Ring on his wrist and moved to power it up, then looked decidueye dead in the eyes as he called out, “Decidueye, use never-ending nightmare!”

Decidueye bristled and squawked, glaring back at Nico and spreading his wings to appear bigger and more threatening. Suddenly, the mountaintop grew dark, as though something had moved to block out the sun. The ground around decidueye turned black and started to bubble, and decidueye appeared to melt into the shadows. Around Nico, everything disappeared until he found himself standing in a dark void.

The ground beneath his feet began to rumble, and a giant, shadowy hand burst from the ground, towering over him. Another hand appeared at his side, then another in front, another behind, more and more until Nico was completely surrounded, and each giant hand reached out for him, covering him, consuming him. 

Nico screamed, and when he opened his eyes, he was curled up on the ground, knees to his chest and arms covering his head. He screamed until he ran out of air, and flinched when something brushed against his arm. He looked up, gulping down lungfuls of air, and saw mimikyu standing in front of him, her small, true eyes looking over him with concern.

Nico sat up and took in the concern from the rest of his pokemon.

“Let’s keep going.”

 

When the Pokemon League was built, the Island Kahunas also built a private residence for the champion on the side of the mountain. Will moved into this house when he became champion, though he rarely spent any time there as he was usually traveling between the islands and training. Recently, however, he had spent the last week or so locked up in his house with only his pokemon to keep him company as he mourned his ruined relationship.

There was a knock on his door, and Will groaned at the thought of one of the Pokemon League workers appearing to inform him of another challenger. Will rose from the couch, dislodging all of his pokemon except for komala who clung to his leg even as he walked across the room to the door. 

He opened the door with a heavy sigh, but when he saw Nico on the other side, his heart did a backflip. He was torn between feeling relieved at Nico’s return, and concerned by Nico’s current state. He looked horrible - he was pale, with dark bags under his eyes, and he was leaning heavily against the doorframe, looking like he might collapse at any second. 

Will wanted to reach out for him, but he hesitated with his hand held out between them. “Nico?”

“I’m here for my rematch,” he rasped.

Will frowned, and this time he did reach out for Nico. “Okay, come inside and I’ll--”

“No!” Nico snapped, and moved away from Will’s grasp, stumbling back a few steps before righting himself and returning to his lean against the doorframe. “Don’t touch me!”

“Nico, you look like you haven’t slept in days,” Will argued. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m  _ fine,” _ Nico snarled, baring his teeth and looking like he was some kind of feral animal. “Just battle me so I can prove you wrong and become the champion.”

“Prove me wrong…? Nico, please, just come inside and take a seat. I want to talk to you before we battle, okay? I swear, I didn’t mean to lie to you for so long, but--”

“I don’t want to talk!” Nico screamed, and pushed himself off the doorframe to stand on his own. He didn’t last long, wobbling on his feet almost immediately as one of his pokeballs opened on his belt and decidueye appeared behind him. He gave Nico a gentle push forward, and Nico fell into Will’s arms, unconscious.

Will looked to decidueye in a panic. “Is he okay?”

Decidueye shook his head.

Will took a deep breath and scooped Nico into his arms. He carried him into the house, taking him to the bedroom and setting him gently on the bed. He took Nico’s pokeballs from his belt before covering him with a blanket, and closed the door behind him when he left the room.

He brought out each of Nico’s pokemon to look them over, afraid at first that Nico may have been neglecting them for the last week, though when they all appeared healthy and happy to see him, Will realized that Nico had just been neglecting himself.

 

Nico felt himself choking on the darkness that consumed him, and his eyes snapped open. The room around him was dark, but no so much so that Nico couldn’t see the bed he laid on or the outlines of posters on the walls. He had no idea where he was, and didn’t even remember anything after being hit with decidueye’s never-ending nightmare, so he sat up and looked around. A quick peek over the side of the bed told him almost everything he needed to know - Will was asleep on the floor, his hand stretched out toward Nico.

Nico felt his chest constricting at the sight. He stretched his arm out hesitantly, like he was afraid Will would pull away from him despite being asleep, and curled his fingers around Will’s. He held on to Will’s hand as he lowered his head back down to the pillow and fell back asleep.

When he woke up again, his hand was empty, and sunlight was streaming in through the windows. He slipped out of bed and left the room, and found an empty house before him. He wandered around for a few moments until a glance out a window showed a few of his pokemon playing outside - it made sense; drifloon was probably too big to fit inside the house comfortably.

He approached the sliding glass door that led outside, and exited the house as quietly as he could. Nico spotted each of his pokemon, as well as all of Will’s, and his heart stopped when he saw Will laughing and playing along with the pokemon.

“I can’t believe how big you’ve all gotten!” Will commented right before palossand tackled him to the ground.

Nico was too distracted by the sight to notice Will’s bewear sneaking up beside him until he was being lifted off the ground. “Hey, put me down!” Nico exclaimed, and struggled against bewear’s hold as he carried Nico toward the rest of the group. 

Bewear sat down on the grass and held Nico in his lap like a teddy bear, and the rest of Will’s pokemon soon came bounding over to greet him. Nico couldn’t help the small smile that bloomed on his face as ribombee settled on Nico’s head. “Yeah, uh huh, I missed all of you, too,” Nico said, feigning annoyance. 

He looked between each of the pokemon, and his eyes drifted toward Will, who was watching him with a sad look on his face, and Nico dropped his gaze. He felt a wave of guilt washing over himself as he thought of how childish he had been, and how he’d most likely ruined his relationship with Will over a single battle. 

“I missed you too, you know,” Will said softly, and Nico tensed, afraid to look up at him.

“I-- Yeah, me too.”

“How are you feeling?” Will asked. Nico wished he would just skip over the small talk and break up with him already instead of making Nico wait for it. When Nico didn’t immediately answer, Will continued, “You were pretty out of it when you got here. I’m kind of surprised you managed to find this place in that state.”

Sylveon crawled into Nico’s lap and started butting her head against Nico’s palm until he started petting her. “I’m fine,” Nico told him. “I’m still angry with you.”

Will sighed, and pulled his knees to his chest. “I know. I’m sorry I never told you. I wanted to, but I didn’t know how, and then I felt like it was too late. I never meant to trick you, or psych you out during the battle - that wasn’t some strategy of mine, or anything like that. I  _ want _ you to win, you know? Because you deserve it more than I do, but I still have to put up a good fight or else it wouldn’t be fair, right?”

Nico nodded. “I do still want my rematch...if that’s what you’re getting at.”

Will snorted. “Oh, I know you do. You made that very clear when you showed up here yesterday, but I couldn’t let you fight when you weren’t in your right mind. I would’ve have battled you until we talked, anyway, so that I could, you know…” Will ducked his head, suddenly very interested in the grass beneath him and looking almost embarrassed as he continued, “hopefully apologize until you’re not mad at me anymore, and then maybe you would...take me back?”

Nico’s head snapped up in surprise. “You still want to be with me?”

Will scratched the back of his neck in discomfort. “Of course I do, I lo--hmm. I like you, like, a  _ lot, _ and I know I messed up, but I promise you, no more lies, no more secrets.” He took a deep breath. “So? What do you say, will you take me back?”

Nico frowned. “Of course I will! I thought  _ you _ wouldn’t want  _ me _ back after I acted like a child when I lost!”

“But you  _ didn’t _ lose,” Will reminded him, rising to his feet. “We tied, remember? And if we tied when you were distracted - again, my fault, sorry - then there’s no doubt you’ll win next time!” He stepped toward him, holding a hand out to Nico. “So? Ready for your rematch?” Will grinned and wiggled his fingers. “I’ll even let you skip past the elite four to battle me again.”

Nico smiled and took his hand. “Yeah. But breakfast first.”

 

Nico and Will met at the center of the battlefield, shaking hands once before Will pulled him forward and met Nico’s lips for a kiss.

“Good luck,” he said softly, smiling down at his boyfriend.

Nico smiled back. “Right back at you.”

They took their places at opposite ends of the field and revealed their first pokemon as the referee called the start of the battle.

One by one, Nico and Will took down each other’s pokemon until they were each down to their last of six - Nico’s marowak and Will’s bewear. As their fire spin and takedown collided in the center of the battlefield, both pokemon were thrown backwards.

“Marowak and bewear are both unable to battle,” the referee announced. “Once again, both trainers are out of usable pokemon, and this battle ends in a tie!”

Nico returned marowak to her pokeball and fell to his knees, cradling the pokeball to his chest. “Not again,” he whispered, trying to keep his emotions from getting the best of him once again.

He looked up just in time to see Will dropping to his knees in front of him, sliding a bit on the ground and reaching up to cradle Nico’s face in his hands. “I have an idea!” Will announced, a bright smile on his face. “Clearly we’re both evenly matched, right? And we know we work well as a team--”

“What are you getting at, Will?”

“Co-champions,” Will said, resting his forehead against Nico’s. “There are gyms in other regions that have co-leaders who fight double battles. Why can’t we have a championship double battle here?”

“Co-champions?” Nico repeated.

Will’s bright smile started to fade. “If you need time to think about it, that’s okay--”

“No, I want to! That sounds perfect, Will. We can stay here together, train together…” His heart flipped in his chest as he realized something. “We’ll  _ live _ here together. Are you sure you’re okay with that?” 

“It sounds amazing,” Will told him, and pressed his lips to Nico’s. “C’mon. Let’s go heal up our pokemon, and then we can head home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!!

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! don't forget to check out solangeloweek.tumblr.com to see more solangelo content from this week, as well as check out our past and upcoming events!


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